Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea

Some of history’s most infamous prisons - Alcatraz, Robben Island, the Dry Guillotine - have been established on naturally beautiful but hopelessly desolate islands. How can their secrets help us to make sense of our experiences in 2020/21?

Main Sources:

Belbenoit, Rene, Dry Guillotine: Fifteen Years Amongst the Living Dead translated by Rambo, P. (New York: 1938). Available at https://archive.org/details/Dry_Guillotine/mode/2up 

Grosser, Philip, Uncle Sam's Devil's Island: Experiences of a Conscientious Objector in America during the World War (Boston: 1933). Available at https://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015069746421 

Additional Sources:

Frost, Natasha, Quarantined for Life: The Tragic History of US Leprosy Colonies, The History Channel (2020). Retrieved from https://www.history.com/news/leprosy-colonies-us-quarantine [Accessed: 03/2021].

Humphrys, Julian, Napoleon on St Helena: How Exile Became the French Emperor’s Last Battle, BBC History Extra. Retrieved from https://www.historyextra.com/period/georgian/napoleon-where-exile-why-st-helena-death-murder/ [Accessed: 03/2021].

Larkins, Karen, Ten Infamous Islands of Exile, The Smithsonian Magazine (2010). Retrieved from https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/ten-infamous-islands-of-exile-1947938/ [Accessed: 03/2021].

St Louis, Regis, The Wall of Tears in the Galapagos, G Adventures (2017). Retrieved from https://www.gadventures.com/blog/wall-tears-galapagos/ [Accessed: 03/2021].

Unknown, Devil’s Island, History Hit (2020). Retrieved from https://www.historyhit.com/locations/devils-island/ [Accessed: 03/2021].

Unknown, Robben Island, UNESCO. Retrieved from https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/916 [Accessed: 03/2021].

Unknown, The Rock, Federal Bureau of Prisons. Retrieved from https://www.bop.gov/about/history/alcatraz.jsp [Accessed: 03/2021].